Some History

At the height of the Civil War, one of the greatest reclamation projects in history would alter the course of naval ship building for ever. Long before industrial designers like the Wright Bros., Henry Ford, a team of miscreant Confederate naval officers raised the burned and sunken steamboat, USS Merrimack. Low on funds and with limited resources, they turned the rotting bones of this sunken ship into something never seen before… first Ironclad warship. The Union commissioned its own ironclad project after stunning naval defeats at the hands of this new floating Frankenstein. Built from salvaged iron in a Brooklyn navy yard in Greenpoint, Union designers unleashed their own Ironclad ship; this, the first ever ship with a revolving gun turret. It was not long after that the two ships met in battle. And what happens when and unstoppable force meet and immovable object? Well, in this case nothing. They both sailed away uninjured after 4 hours of fighting. And though they were doomed and would eventually sink in the months to come (neither from actual battle), we pay homage to their ingenuity and the idea that from discarded scraps and forgotten trinkets, innovation can be born. A statue in McGolrick Park in Greenpoint, Brooklyn pays homage to the ingenuity of the Merrimack and Monitor. The Monitor’s designer, John Ericsson can also be visited in Battery Park.

Now A Little About Us…

Merrimack and Monitor was born from simple need. Our need to outfit a Brooklyn home with fixtures and furnishings we liked… and that wouldn’t cost us an arm and a leg. Many of the “industrial” or “reclaimed” things we saw in stores and fairs lacked imagination, or even worse, were too expensive. Already avid urban explorers, we decided to go hunting. What we found, we used to make unique furniture and light fixtures throughout our home. We enjoyed the process so much that we simply kept going. We got a shop space near our home in Brooklyn and began to create. So here we are, hawking our handmade wares to anyone looking for something unique and priced to fit a real person’s budget. To learn more about our team, CLICK HERE.